WAEC to use CCTVs, metal detectors to prevent cheating

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) will implement more strategies to deal with examination malpractices in the country.

The Head of National Office of WAEC, Very Rev. Samuel Nii Nmai Ollennu, said the measures to be implemented include, installation of more CCTV cameras in its examination halls, the use of composite answer booklets (inclusive of graph and supplementary sheets), synchronised time for the start of papers across all member countries and the use of metal detectors to search candidates.

He explained that WAEC has decided to take such steps due to the new trends adopted by some candidates to cheat during examinations.

Rev Ollenu said question papers for the various exams would now be released to supervisors not more than 45 minutes before the start of an examination. Meanwhile, the supervisors after receiving the package question papers are not expected to open them more than 10 minutes before the start of any paper.

Candidates who report after an examination has started would not be allowed entry into the exam hall.

He said the poor supervision and invigilation by people tasked to do the job is a major challenge they face.

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“The supervisors and invigilators at centres who record high incidence of malpractices are reported to the GES for investigation and necessary action to be taken.”

However, the use of the Item Differentia Profile (IDP) software to detect malpractices in multiple-choice tests had also gone a long way to curb cheating in the examinations conducted by the council.

Very. Rev. Ollennu noted that the cancellation of the entire results of candidates and de-recognition of schools which register “unqualified” candidates were some of the sanctions meted out to candidates and schools.